People You Know, June to August 2008

1970s

James (Larry) Ivie (BS, petr. engr., 72) writes, "My family and I are currently living in the Lafayette, Louisiana. I am the Gulf Coast region engineer for BJ Services. I am the technical cementing engineer for land drilling for South Texas and southern Louisiana. I am also the Gulf Coast region mentor for engineers, training college graduates for their new field engineering jobs for BJ Services. I have trained domestic and international engineers since 1990. I assist BJ Services in recruiting engineering students from the Louisiana universities. I really enjoy teaching and preparing engineers for their future in the oil industry."

Nancy C. Bilderbeck, (BS, biology, 76) and Mitch Bilderbeck, (BS, petroleum engr., 77) have resided for the last quarter of a century in England. They are now at home in London. Mitch is an international energy consultant working for RPS. His work takes him to all areas of the globe, where he works for individuals as well as governments. Nancy is a science teacher, specializing in children from 7 to 12 years old. In 2005 she was named Science Teacher of the Year for the U.K. Since then she has been active in government initiatives and national organizations which evaluate and promote science teaching. In addition, Nancy makes presentations at conferences, both national and regional in the U.K. Amy, their elder child, is completing her Ph.D. in psychology and psychiatry at Oxford University. Ray, their son, is continuing his education at Harvard Law School following his graduation from Princeton University. Mitch and Nancy return to Socorro each spring where Nancy judges the New Mexico Science and Engineering Fair and Mitch takes on the challenges of the Tech golf course.

1980s

Louise (Weeks) McDade (BS, biology, 82) reports that she has recently finished a residency in Family Medicine in Pueblo, Colo. "I started med school right out of college and decided to stop and raise my kids at home. My family lived in Alaska for a while. After a divorce, the kids and I moved to Albuquerque and I started my own business of landscaping and stained glass. I later returned to med school at UNM. So now, at 48 years old, I am joining a practice in Belen. I was remarried seven years ago. My husband is a musician, producer, and multimedia guy. He has a large recording studio in Albuquerque and records wonderful musicians. Check it out online at Shepherdstudios.com. "

Louise adds, "My daughter, Jacqui Weeks, is 26 and is getting her Ph.D. in English and literature. My son, Shawn Weeks, is 25 and is getting his master's in history. My nephew, William Villenueva, attends Tech and is editor of Paydirt."

Robyn Hayes (BS, chemistry, 85) brought us up-to-date on her family. "Tim Hayes (BS, chemistry and physics, 84) and I moved this past year to Carlsbad from Española. Tim is still employed by Los Alamos National Laboratory, but is now working for the Environmental and Earth Science Division in connection with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. I am now a faculty member at New Mexico State University-Carlsbad where I teach chemistry. We have two daughters: Elizabeth who is an art major attending McMurry University in Abilene,Tex., and Amelia who is a senior at Carlsbad High School."

1990s

Stephen Cook (BS, physics, 93) writes "I'm living in Albuquerque with my wife Janet and our two sons: Jonah, 10, and Sterling, 2. Since graduating, I have worked in several positions, including as a VLBA correlator operator at NRAO, a contractor at AFOTEC and Sandia Labs, and a product manager for high speed computer network products. I also earned my MBA from UNM in 2006. For the past few years I've been an entrepreneur running a few Internet sites such as CheatCodes.com and BidNip.com (recently sold). I try to keep my website updated at http://www.stevecook.net/"

Syed Redzal Hisham (BS, petroleum engineering, 93) writes, "After spending almost six years at Shell as drilling engineer and contract analyst in Borneo, I joined Weatherford in Malaysia as business development manager in 1998. In 2003, I was posted to Weatherford's Dubai office as region tubular running services manager for Middle-East and North Africa. Now, in my sixth year in Dubai, I am currently the region technical services group manager. I am married to Rina Abdul Razak (class of 93 from UMSL) and we are blessed with five kids - three boys and two girls, ages from 13 to 5 years old. Like most industry professionals, I indulge in golf whenever I get the time. Since we are in Dubai, we try to make it to Europe as much as possible. We are enjoying our stay in Dubai and welcome any alumni that passes through this part of the world." My email is sredzal@yahoo.com.

Andrew M. Moñtano (BGS, 1994) writes, "After working as an aquatic biologist for the Bureau of Reclamation for the past 17.5 years, I have accepted a contractor position as an environmental protection specialist with the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Ore. I can be reached at amontano@yahoo.com.

Brandon Pemble (BS, engineering mechanics, 96) and his wife Rosa B. Armijo-Pemble (BS, technical communication, 97) announce the arrival of their daughter Jastin Malaya, born June 20, 2007, weighing in at a very healthy 4 lbs., 9 oz. Jastin joins her brother, Korbyn, 6, who is thrilled to have a sister. Brandon is a mechanical engineer with Moog in Albuquerque. Rosa runs several businesses from home and has currently been hired by NM Tech to teach Jazzercise classes. For more on the Pemble family check out our web site at members.aol.com/RosBran.

2000s

Laura Jean Wilcox (MS, hydrology, 04) writes, "I returned to the United States in November 2007 after two years supervising dewatering operations at iron ore mines in Outback Australia. I now live in Seattle and work for a small consulting company, Landau Associates. I am hoping to enter the Ironman Lake Placid race in July 2008."
Derek Doyle (B.S., mech. engr., 07) received the Civilian Quarterly Award from the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL). Derek has been developing structural health monitoring techniques and architectures for rapid satellite check-out. He has obtained $45,000 in Air Force Office of Scientific Research funding to continue research in non-linear joint physics.

Derek has established test facilities at AFRL and New Mexico Tech. He will graduate with his master's degree in mechatronics (mechanical engineering) in December 2008 after a year-and-a-half of full-time study at Tech and full-time employment at the AFRL. During this time he published four journal articles, presented at various conferences and is currently working on an article for the Aeronautical Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society.